Cook attributed the figure to "breathtaking customer reception" of the iPhone 4S and said sales were particularly strong in the United States and Japan. Cook, conducting his second earnings call as CEO since taking over for the late Steve Jobs, also credited delayed purchases due to media speculation surrounding an iPhone 5 in the last quarter.

The company also unloaded 15.43 million iPads and 5.2 million Mac computers — both records as well.

One analyst on the call wanted to know how Apple felt about its new competitors in the tablet market offering the devices for lower prices (say, Amazon). Cook didn't take the bait.

"There will come a day when the tablet market is larger than the market for PCs," Cook said. And when that comes, Apple "can continue to compete with anyone that is currently shipping tablets or that might in the future."

Other analysts wanted to find out more about Apple's stack of cash, which now sits at almost $100 billion. Again, Cook declined to go into specifics, but he did say the company was having discussions about it.

Given the holiday bump to its Q1 numbers, Apple's guidance for Q2 projects lower figures but revenue will remain above $30 billion if the company is on point. It projects revenue of $32.5 billion and earnings per share of $8.50.